In yet another horrific tragedy to come out of the horrific American school system, a 10-year-old boy in Indiana, Sammy Teusch, died from suicide after being brutally and relentlessly bullied by tormentors whom the school to which he had to go did nothing to stop. Such, at least, is what his family said in a heart-wrenching GoFundMe post and comments to local media.
The boy’s father, Samuel Teusch, told local media station Fox 59, “To put that little boy into words is just impossible. The people that got to know him are definitely blessed to have known him.” He added, “How could God take my kid from here? Of course that was going through my head. God didn’t take my kid; hate did.”
Mr. Teusch added that his son was relentlessly bullied and that just the week before, bullies cornered him on the bus and broke his glasses. Mr. Teuch added, “I have his broken glasses sitting over there in a memorial shrine that my kids made.”
The family also noted that they complained to the school about twenty times about the bullying, but that the school never did anything at all to make the bullying stop. Mr. Teusch said, “I called the school, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing about this? It keeps getting worse, and worse, and worse.’”
In a heart-wrenching GoFundMe post, the family said, “I am writing to you today to inform you about the loss of our little Sammy. He unexpectedly ended his time here on earth, Sunday May 5th 2024, as a result of bullying. Sammy was the best kid with a wonderful personality. He was smart, funny, charming and deeply empathetic. He brightened the lives of anyone he encountered and was the life of the “party”. I know my baby brother didn’t deserve this. A kid with so much love and so much light gone too soon. None of this makes sense and I don’t think it ever will but what I do know is that he deserves a proper send off. Me and my family are asking for help to do just that.”
They added, “We are all devastated by this loss and were not prepared for the high cost of a funeral service. We want to give Sammy the memorial he deserves, to honor his memory and say our last goodbyes. We unfortunately do not have many details and arrangements have not yet been made as this was very unexpected, but we will keep everyone informed. We ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers, as we navigate the world without our shining star. Please consider donating if you are able to do so. We are so very grateful for every donation during this difficult time.”
The school system said in a statement, Fox 59 reports, “The death of Samuel Teusch is tragic, and it has left our school corporation and larger community in tremendous grief. Our hearts pour out to the family at this time. Sammy was a student in Greenfield-Central for the last year and a half. He finished his 3rd grade year at Weston Elementary School in May of 2023, and he was a 4th grade student at Greenfield Intermediate School during the current 2023-24 school year.”
The statement continued, “We were made aware of his death on Sunday afternoon, and we dispatched our crisis response team to both Greenfield Intermediate School and Greenfield Central Junior High School (where he has two siblings) to start the week. We have been fortunate to have an outpouring of support from our Hancock County school peers and the faith community, who also made themselves available to our students and families. We have continued to provide additional mental health professionals in these two schools this week, and we have reminded all G-C families that we have mental health professionals in all eight of our schools to support our students throughout this crisis.”
It then said, “Our staff in Greenfield-Central has worked with the Teusch family quite a bit over the last 18 months. Contact between school personnel and the parents was frequent. The parents did report the manner of death as a suicide, and we are investigating their claims related to bullying. Beyond our own investigations we are cooperating with the Greenfield Police Department in this matter. While the investigation continues, we are primarily focusing our resources on meeting the immediate needs of the students we serve in Greenfield-Central Schools.”
Featured image credit: GoFundMe
"*" indicates required fields